creative but definitely not a very good caesar.
the olives were so smoked gordon ramsay pulled the fire alarm.

tacofino commissary is an interesting place. the concept is great and the pork jowl taco is awesome, but there is something wrong with charging someone 6 dollars for one taco. a few friends label me a hipster but i’m mos def not hipster enough to say a $6 taco is happybeans. this entire neighbourhood can get you well fed for another 2 bucks with food that is quite exceptional. red wagon, le do, roundel cafe, le petit saigon, el pulgarcito, bo laksa, sushi nanaimo…

but i’ll look on the bright side. THEY PLAYED HIT’EM UP (2Pac’s most vulgar track) while i devoured that shit. i cried not because the tacos (or caesar, or tater tots) were so delicious, but because they dropped one of the best underground rap anthems ever.
so unclassy. so hipster.

garlic pepper crab body and joints – fisherman’s terrace does this with a twist. taste’s superb but the kicker is that they have garlic chips AND dried shrimp. jalepenos were missing but we found a new trend here. lacing other dishes with the leftover toppings. we threw them onto the peking duck lettuce wrap, other deep fried dishes, and dishes that had a thick sauce (think sweet & sour or mayo). LEGENDARY!

portuguese rice on king crab carapace – haven’t eaten portu (chicken) rice since high school but they did this dish justice. it was a delicious end to a great evening. here are the pics.

nice clean decor as you walk in and then you notice, there is only one long table, random chatter with other patrons is likely to occur =)
maybe it’s because i’m carefree, but when i step into a joint and see that it’s pre-pay, automatic plus one. minimal dealings with the staff sometimes is a great thing.

soy bean milk – albeit a typical dessert dish or best with congee and [ch] donuts, something told me to try it – unsweetened – pure. seemed to fit the veggie spirit. @ $3 a pop, you could definitely skip the sugar for one meal no?

i’m a junkie when it comes to salad rolls but surprisingly, the ones i had recently at le do fell short. the ones here were nice to start off and although i didn’t ask, pretty sure they were using some vegetarian nuoc mam (nuoc cham?). bad pic, but here’s a peek:

rice paper roll

the bun chay and bun tam bi were more for the party i was with but still managed to grab a small serving.

bun chay

bun tam bi

i’m not usually a fan of spring roll with vermi but veg translations of spring rolls hardly ever fail and Chau does it up right here. besides, how can you go wrong once you dunk in the sauce!
the bun tam bi was special. coconut milk with noodles? now the coconut wasn’t very strong but the idea was delightful. there are also vegetarian croquettes so if you dig that faux-meat stuff usually found in chinese vege restos, this will add to your experience.

curry chay

it’s bad to write at night because the mouth is still salivating from this one. usually curry is the failsafe for something mediocre but this was the champion dish. the broth smelled great, there wasn’t too much of it (a good thing), and the ingredients seemed to work really well. the only thing that pulled away from this was the slightly overcooked pho.
this is definitely the dish to try if one isn’t having the other noodle soups.

if you’re still reading, i actually forgot to take a pic of the curry noodle! the last pic is a pho dish, forgot to ask – oops!

bottom line: i don’t know of a vegetarian pho place. you HAVE to come here if there’s a craving for soup noodles. the lettuce, herbs and roasted peanuts work with the vermicelli dishes making them crunchy and refreshing.
the buddhist vegetarian may not rock out at this place as there are only a dish or two that DOESN’T have ingredients baaaad for the soul (garlic, onions, etc).
this location JUST opened so don’t be surprised to see a couple edited dishes.

surprise: …if you like pho with meat, a few doors down is another hidden gem called Hoi An Cafe.

my body’s home but the soul is stuck at fraser park resto on byrne road, burnaby.
i walked in expecting a bon’s off broadway- type environment. having set that as a benchmark, it is no wonder i was blown away at the quality of the food. this place is your real deal west coast diner feel. bon’s, is the um, real deal west coast diner steal hehe.

we stole a table and waited for a couple friends. what better way to begin the breakfast of champions with ALCOHOL? some say to cure a hangover, is to drink beer the next morning. and a pitcher of beer (possibly okanagan springs or caribou) was purchased. frosted mugs, a tonne of head, but nice n light for the body that’s just awaken. i’m pretty picky with my lagers but no complaints here!

deluxe german breakfast with curry bratwurst – 3 eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, curry bratwurst, snitzel, hash browns, potato pancake, toast for about $11 bucks. i skipped the toast because trust me, after a mug of beer, this is definitely a challenge.

scrambled eggs with diced veggies (peppers, onions) made a very good intro especially with their homemade chili sauce. you can’t even decide which meet to start with first. out of the sausage, bacon, ham, bratwurst and snitzel – i would say the bratwursts take it home but i’m a sausage egg mcmuffin kinda guy! the bacon and ham would come in second with the snitzel being a bit too crunchy for my liking. it was, however, a nice dip into the land of breaded meats. the potato pancake was just wow. you know that was asian influence right there. it felt like a second omelette for sure. just couldn’t finish the hash browns. had a few pieces but bon’s takes the cake on that one.

all this dipped into their signature gravy. what’s up? no, cat’s up needed (get it?).

we found this foodtruck located just before heading to ebisu (on robson // bute) and decided to give these portable food stations a try.

well, i have to say if we’re lazy or if the food sucks, no pictures are required!
bada bing portable foodtruck was bada fail, fail bing, bada bing fail.
their specialty is cheesesteak or cheese…chicken? rice and poutine are the other options.
we all opted to try the cheesesteak.
cheese was lacking, mushrooms were scant, but beef tasted ok. if the description mentions cheese and mushrooms, u expect cheese and mushrooms. walk by a street dog stand, pay for additional mushrooms, and by the lord’s name, they will load on those shroomies.

general reviews give this place 3 stars but for $6-7 price range – two stars.
good food lives in vancouver, if you scant on the helpings, we will scant on them stars.
cheesesteaks imo, are a bit hard to come by in this city. i would save it for an adventure down south

turning point – this place is a halal eatery and we are not regulars with shwarmas, etc. there were 4 of us – 2 with cooking education and experience, and 2 just there for a good time (@ ebisu ha~).